Victoria Brandon: DOJ gets it rigiht

Share this:

The Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club applauds the report of the Department of Justice on the Orcem/VMT project.
As we have unequivocally stated for more than three years, the Orcem/VMT project will have severe negative impacts on the local environment and as the DOJ points out, the greatest impacts will fall on a disadvantaged neighborhood whose residents already suffer from a myriad of health problems at unacceptably high rates. Completion of the Orcem/VMT project would result in more than 500 hundred trucks entering this neighborhood every day, putting the safety of the community at risk and harming our neighbors in south Vallejo.

Additionally, the report confirms the genuine threat that the project operators will be able to ship coal through our community. The Sierra Club, along with our allies San Francisco Baykeeper, first commented on the possibility of coal shipments during the original circulation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report nearly four years ago. The hazards of coal are well documented and long term. The project has no mechanism to ban the shipment of coal. Coal is a break bulk item which is specifically allowed in the DEIR. Other “loopholes” in the Orcem/VMT project remain a looming threat to an already stressed community.

The Redwood Chapter represents more than 11,000 members who have tasked our Executive Committee with preserving open spaces, protecting the resources that we all share and ensuring that impacts of necessary development are distributed equally. The Sierra Club always speaks with one voice. Outright opposition to projects is rare but necessary when the impacts are so egregious that the health and safety of the community are threatened. No resident of our region should be exposed to the risks that the Orcem/VMT project poses.